June 2009

Recent reports indicate that Red bull energy drink products in Hongkong has been identified to be laced with traces of cocaine in some of the samples coming from Austria and United Kingdom. Retailers were immediately advised to pull out Red Bull energy drink off the market.

Energy drinks do proliferate in most convenient stores and drugstores here in the Philippines. To some it has become a habit to take one before work , for studentsthey have to take it before examinations and to keep them awakethrough the night as they are reviewing. Along the streets you will see vendors selling Extra Joss in sachets and a bottle of mineral water to motorist caught in the traffic. I have seen security guards mixing the said energy drink during their break time.

Cobra, Extra Joss and I –ON energy drink s have the following main ingredients such as caffeine, taurine, ginseng and royal jelly.

Ingredients

Extra Joss(4 gms)

Cobra (350 ml)

I- ON(180 ml)

Caffeine

50 mg

134 mg

50 mg

Taurine

1000 mg

153 mg

1000 mg

Ginseng

20 mg

17.5 mg

25 mg

Royal jelly

100 mg

—

100 mg

B complex vitamins

B1 – 1.2 mg

B2 – 1.5 mg

B3 -20 mg

B6 – 1.5 mg

B12 – 1 mcg

B1 – 1.36 mg

B3 -7 mg

B6 – 1.35 mg

B12 – .70 mg

B1 – 1.2 mg

B2 – 1.7 mg

B3 -20 mg

B6 – 1.9 mg

Effects of these ingredients are the following:

Caffeine : One will experience less drowsiness, less fatigue, more rapid and clearer flow of thought.

Taurine : Is a kind of amino acid( protein) and helps regulate water and mineral salts in the body.

The B complex vitamins are in smaller amounts however, we can get these from the food we eat every day. These are also water-soluble vitamins so that anything we eat in excess, it goes to out of the body in the urine. You may notice that your urine turns more yellowish every time one takes these energy drinks.

Ginseng and royal jelly have myriad other benefits aside from what I have mentioned.

If one eats the proper diet every day, rice, vegetables, meat and fish. One can get these ingredients. A cup of coffee in the morning provides about 80 mg of caffeine.

Imagine yourself, drinking 1 cup of coffee (80 mg caffeine) in the morning, a bottle of cola ( 50 mg caffeine) for lunch, an ice cold tea ( 50 mg caffeine) and a bottle of Cobra (134 mg caffeine) in the early afternoon to ward off sleepiness and a night cap at Starbucks coffee ( 85 mg caffeine). That a lot of caffeine in your body, a total of about 400 mg of caffeine in your body. Warning , as the dose of caffeine is increased, it can produced nervousness, restlessness, insomnia, tremors and palpitations, oftentimes mental block if you are astudent.

Be careful of taking these energy drinks. It can do more harm than good when taken in excess and taking them becomes a habit.

“I was born in Calamba on 19 June, 1861, between eleven and midnight, a few days before full moon. It was Wednesday and my coming out in the vale years would cost my mother her life had she not vowed to the Virgin of Antipolo to take me to her sanctuary by way of pilgrimage”. From Jose Rizal’s writings Memoirs of a Student in Manila.

At 16 years old, he graduated from Ateneo Municipal with the degree of Bachelor of Arts

Let us turn to our Father Almighty for his protection and guidance of our family and community.

God, Our loving Father we come to you in our need to ask your protection against the INFLUENZA A H1NI virus that has claimed the lives of people in some parts of the world and has afflicted a number here in our country.

We ask you to continue to guide the hands and minds of the people who are studying the nature and cause of this disease and who are working hard to prevent its spread to more areas in the world. Grant all those in the medical profession who must treat and care for those who contract the disease, the grace and determination to minister to the sick with competence and compassion. Grant those in the health agencies of the government a sense of responsibility to act with only the good and the well-being of the people in mind. May their expert advice on proper health practices be heeded and followed.

We pray for those who are still suffering from the disease in our country and in other parts of the world, may they all be restored to health soon. We earnestly pray that the virus may be finally contained and its harmful spread be prevented.

Grant us the grace always to be filled with hope that you watch over us with love and providence and that your will for us is always good.

We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ your son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen

Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.
San Lorenzo Ruiz, pray for us.
San Roque, pray for us.

Note: Oratio Imperata (revised June 5, 2009) was issued by the Archdiocese of Manila to be prayed at each Mass, kneeling down, after Holy Communion, at every Mass.

On June 12, 1898, Gen Emilio Aguinaldo formally declared the independence of the Philippines in a ceremony held at his house in Kawit Cavite.

Other two significant events highlighted this event, the first official display of the Philippine flag and the playing of the Philippine National Anthem.

During the 70’sof the Marcos era, celebrations were centered at the Luneta or Rizal park. There was a flag raising ceremony by the First Family, all dressed in Filipiniana costumes and wreath lying at Rizal monument. A parade depicting Philippine history including civic military march were the activities in the afternoon until late evening.

I miss to see that kind of parade where the participants were all in different Filipino costumes, how I wish my children would be able to see such parade. It gives me a sense of being Filipino; it reminds me of the grandeur of our culture and history.